The Gallipoli Countdown and the Mayan Prophecy Countdown

Well, I have some exciting news :D, some absolutely devastating news 😡 , some sit down before you fall down news 😯 and some basic news 🙂

Exciting News 😀

I was contacted by the National Library of Australia recently. They have requested the inclusion of TravellingStrom’s Blog in the national archives as part of the Pandora Archive 🙂

How could I refuse!!! What it means is that my whole site will now be copied, plus future updates, and saved in perpetuity for anyone to access if they wish :). How cool is that :). And it is all thanks to you out there who have read it and made me write it, so thanks to you all, give yourselves a pat on the back . Now all I need to do us work out a way to convert that into dosh so I can continue to travel ” in perpetuity” 😀

Absolutely Devastating News 😡

My laptop died last Saturday, this is being posted from my iPhone so it won’t be as polished as normal. Apparently it has lost the MBR the Master Boot Record which tells the computer where things are when it boots, without it, there is no operating system which means ALL the planning I have done over the past six months or so may be down the gurgler!!!!

I am having it looked at under warranty, 11 months old, and they MAY be able to reinstall the OS with an install disc which I do not have. Some of my data was backed up but not all.

I am resigned to the fact it is all gone so if I get some back I will be thrilled. But, this means trying to recreate six months work inside one month so I guess I will wing most of the trip, but I am used to that.

some sit down before you fall down news😯

On the planning side of things, my original plan as you may know, is to fly me and the Vstrom to Istanbul in time for Anzac Day at Gallipoli. Well, I rode to Brisbane to talk to freight people and got myself a bit of a shock. The first quote I got was $9,300 hence the title above. The second quote was only $4,500, yeah ONLY!!!

But, after chatting to the people at Qantas I have worked out a way. I am now flying the bike direct to Frankfurt in Germany, for a cost of $2,000 ish, and it will mean riding from there to Istanbul which shouldn’t take long if I hoike it. If you look at this picture you can see Europe is not that big a place, so Germany to Turkey is like Alice to Sydney, and cos the roads are a bit better, it should be a breeze.

I am now committed as I have bought my own ticket leaving Oz on 20th April, the bike should leave the day after.

Some General News 🙂

1- I have modified my bike panniers, they are no longer quick release, with some welded in plates, the panniers now are screwed on like my old ones, so when I crash they will stay on the bike and protect my legs.

2- I bought a camera to take videos, it is a Drift Inovation Stealth 170HD and then ran into a slight issue with how to mount it. My new helmet is a Shark Evoline II and due to its versatile nature, there is no way to mount it AND get a nice full field of view. So, what I did was get my m8 Wart to make me a SS plate and bolt it through the helmet shell and cheek foam. It actually looks quite good and works, which is the main thing. 😀 The actual helmet integrity should not be compromised as the shell is just there to hold the foam in place, so my actual skull is still protected. Because the chin piece swivels over the back and locks out of the way, I could not put one on top, plus up there is the sunvisor controls, I think we came up with a pretty decent way out. That bit of black stuff on the chin piece is the velcro camera mount that comes with it, but I could not position it in a decent enough spot

Anyway, it works for me, and the video test I did was OK as well, just ignore the audio, still working on a wind noise reducer

3 – China, well, I have been trying to work out how to get around through or over China. I have been in contact with a group of others who also wanted to ride the continent and not fly or boat it. There is an option of going through Myanmar, as they are not so nasty now, but I have heard people can transit, but not motorbikes. That may change, but I needed to make a decision and last weekend was that time, of course my laptop died, so that caused a bit of a panic, but as I can do a lot of stuff on the iPhone, it was not as bad as I first thought. Anyway, I am now committed, I have paid my deposit and at the end of Aug, I enter China, visiting Tibet and spending a month, arriving in Laos early October, then I get to continue into the far east. It looks like I miss India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and of course Afghanistan, but I might get a boat back and do some of that depending on what is left of my budget by then, China will be expensive.

4 – I am in the process of getting my Russian visa, I expect to be arriving there around July 1, but I cannot apply until after April 1.

Well, that is all for the moment, still working crap days, 12 hour shifts, 3 hours travel per day, but only another month of that crap and I can then start packing seriously, and in between, I have my birthday during easter, so I am having an F&F party at my local Berserker Tavern, Fifty and Farewell

Cheers
TravellingStrom